Sunday November 01, 2015

It’s unfortunate that banks think chips are all the security we need. Worse is that some retailers are supposedly using it as an excuse to not upgrading their terminals at all.

Banks favor using chip cards verified by old-school signatures, even though chip-and-PIN usage has led to lower fraud over the decade they have been used in Europe and elsewhere. "The PIN is definitely a must," said Lance James, chief scientist with cyber intelligence firm Flashpoint. "It’s one extra step that provides true two-factor authentication." But bankers say PINs provide little benefit beyond the advantage of using chips in combating the estimated $7 billion-plus in annual U.S. card fraud.